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Til - Daniel Hale Williams was an American general surgeon, who in 1893 performed the first documented, successful pericardium surgery in the United States to repair a wound. In 1913, Williams was elected as the only African-American charter member of the American College of Surgeons.

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oBELA TIL famed Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, upon being approached for his first album in 1955, disregarded objections from studio executives and played Bach's Goldberg Variations, a piece almost unknown at the time. The recording became an instant best-seller and immediately launched Gould's career.
OowjL TIL that an underachieving Princeton student wrote a term paper describing how to make a nuclear bomb. He got an A but his paper was taken away by the FBI.
4vNb TIL that during the 9/11 World Trade Center Attacks, Fox News decided to add a news slider that crawled at the bottom of the screen to give updates. It was so effective that other news channels began to implement it even to this day.
8akGb TIL in 1999, Macromedia hired Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame to create 39 animated shorts to showcase its "Shockwave" player. The result was "Princess". Parker and Stone didn't hear back for weeks after submitting the first two episodes. (Reuploded, links in comments, very NSFW).
m10Xv TIL: Cat burning was a form of entertainment in 17th century France; people used to gather dozens of cats in a net and hoist them high into the air from a special bundle onto a bonfire